Viper Mk VII Mock-up

The Colonial Viper Mark VII is the ultimate fighter in the Colonial Military. Its propulsion system is so powerful that despite being equipped with inertial dampers, it’s potentially deadly to inexperienced pilots who may be shocked by its power. Although there are only a few Colonial Viper Mark VII ships left aboard the Battlestar Galactica, these fighters are the pinnacle of flight engineering throughout Colonial Space.

Artists

Nathan Schroder created the original concept sketch of the Viper Mk VII for the ill-fated 2001 Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer continuation of Battlestar Galactica. During that production the Mk VII was dubbed “The Scorpion.”

In 2003 the Scorpion designs were resurrected and set designer Neville Conway refined the shape of the Viper to fit within the tighter budget of the MiniSeries by simplifying the tail, wings and engine nacels. Neville also drafted up the blueprints which were used to build the practical filming mock-up. The CGI model was created by Eric Chu from Neville’s updated designs.

The Viper Mk VII is constructed of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (EPS) — a.k.a. Styrofoam — over a steel armature. The following photo shows the Viper with the first coat of bodyfiller prior to being poly urea hard coated.

The physical Viper Mk VII mock-up started off as only the nose section during the MiniSeries. The rest of the Viper was added in post-production for shots that showed the entire Viper body.